By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
The New Hampshire Union Leader is seeking a $1 million state Business Finance Authority loan as part of a $4 million investment plan to bailout executive pensions, according to their workers’ union, the New Hampshire NewsGuild.
The Business Finance Authority is a state agency, but it is self-funded through its own services helping businesses get loans so none of the $1 million would come from taxpayer dollars should the loan be approved.
BFA Executive Director James Key-Wallace said he couldn’t confirm or deny whether the Union Leader has applied for a loan as the process is confidential. Approval of any borrower would always done in public, Key-Wallace said.
According to the Guild, none of the $4 million will go toward reporter salaries, and the Guild claims the state’s largest daily newspaper does not project any raises or benefits for the newsroom over the next 12 years.
The Guild said on social media it has documents from the New Hampshire Business Finance Authority as well as an investor prospectus from the Union Leader. InDepthNH.org was unable to obtain its own copies of the documents, and Union Leader President and Publisher Brendan McQuaid did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the Guild, the New Hampshire Business Finance Authority is ready to loan the Union Leader $1 million at 2 percent interest paid back over the next five years. That money is contingent on the newspaper attracting $3 million in private investment,
That $4 million total is earmarked for one thing, reducing the Union Leader’s “legacy debt,” which is costing $900,000 a year now. Rolled into that legacy debt is executive pension, like former publisher Joseph McQuaid’s $114,000, and $76,000 for John MacKenzie, according to the Guild.
“A significant part of that is pensions for executives and managers. Unlike the Guild pension plan, the company never properly funded pensions for non-union workers, even during prosperous times,” the Guild said in a statement. “Other legacy obligations are employee severance and payments to pension funds of unions that represented workers in disbanded departments such as the distribution center.”
The newspaper and the Guild are engaged in a long running dispute over pay. Guild members were given their first raise in 15 years this spring, but the company eliminated dental, vision, and life insurance benefits, cut paid time off and vacation time, and cut mileage reimbursement in half as part of that new contract, according to a Guild posting on Facebook.
But current and future employees shouldn’t expect to see anything from the $4 million, the Guild says. The investment prospectus includes a 12-year projection which shows expenses, including salary and benefits, going down slightly before stabilizing. The Guild says that means after a cut in the first three years, employees can expect nine years of stagnant wages.
Meanwhile, the 12-year projections show the Union Leader expects to be making a profit.
“The company’s bottom line — the net profit — goes from a loss of $472,000 this year to a small profit next year and a $1.01 million profit by the 12th year,” the Guild states.
The newspaper’s majority owner is the non-profit Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications.
Entrepreneur Steve Duprey sits on the Nackey Loeb School board while also serving as vice-chairman for the Business Finance Authority’s board.
According to its website, the BFA’s mission is to help New Hampshire businesses secure the capital they need to expand, succeed, and create more jobs.
“New Hampshire Business Finance Authority was created in 1992 to foster economic development and create employment in New Hampshire. The BFA accomplishes these objectives by working with New Hampshire’s banking, business, and economic development sectors to develop and implement programs that expand the availability of credit in the state,” according to its website.
The Business Finance Authority Board includes many well-known people:
Stephen Duprey, Vice Chairman, Concord, NH; F. Daniel Henderson, Treasurer, Hancock, NH; Dick Anagnost, Chairman, Bedford, NH; Catherine Provencher, Deerfield, NH; Matthew H. Benson, Gilford, NH; Jeffrey R. Hayes, Jackson, NH; Vikram Mansharamani, Lincoln, NH; Monica Mezzapelle, State Treasurer, Concord, NH; Jason Syversen, Dunbarton, NH; Senator Lou D’Allesandro, Manchester, NH; Senator Keith Murphy, Manchester, NH; Rep. Laurie Sanborn, Bedford, NH; Rep. Michael Edgar, Hampton, NH.
The Nackey Loeb Board of Trustees include: Joseph W. McQuaid, President & Chairman; Charles G. Douglas III, Vice President; Dirk F. Ruemenapp, Secretary; Pamela Diamantis, Treasurer; Stephen Duprey, Trustee; John MacKenzie, Member; Katie McQuaid, Member; Jim Merrill, Trustee; Gregory V. Sullivan, Member; Betty Tamposi, Trustee.
Reporter Nancy West contributed to this report.
